Love and Anxiety: Gender Negotiations in Chutney-Soca Lyrics in Trinidad
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ISSUE 1 ▪ April 2007 Love and Anxiety: Gender Negotiations in Chutney-Soca Lyrics in Trinidad Aisha Mohammed Abstract Chutney soca is commonly perceived to be a fusion of chutney, an Indo-Trinidadian folk music performed during Hindu weddings, and soca, which is Afro-Trinidadian fête music that developed through a mixture of calypso with soul.1 Marriage, sex and the family are recurring themes in “classical” chutney music. When chutney makes the transition to chutney-soca, the themes remain but their articulation changes both literally, in the sense that English becomes the primary language, and figuratively, as their articulation is influenced by multiple sex/gender systems. It is my contention that in chutney-soca, Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian sex/gender belief systems come into intense interaction, causing symbolic disruptions in the Indian system of gender relations. These disruptions can result in the reconfiguration of gender relations for Indian women and men at a metaphoric level.2 The desire of organizers of the Chutney-Soca Monarch competition to make it marketable to a foreign audience by conforming to ‘international’ 1 For the rest of the paper, when referring to Indo and Afro-Trinidadians, I use the terms ‘Indian’ and ‘black’ respectively. See also a glossary at the end of the paper for non-english words or idioms used. 2 Although chutney-soca is a fusion music, and depends on the participation of both black and Indian artistes, it is still widely considered to be an ‘Indian artform’ due to the prevalence of imagery derived from Indian homes and customs, as well as the mostly Indian audiences at chutney soca events. Newspaper headlines like “Plenty chutney, too little soca” (TnT Mirror, 6 February 1998) and “Too much ‘jump and wave’ in chutney soca” (Trinidad Guardian, 15 January 2001) point to this perception. They also reveal the anxieties of Indians invested in defining an Indian culture distinct from the ‘dominant Creole’ culture due to fears of assimilation and cultural erosion. For this reason, I contend that the disruption resulting from interaction primarily affects the Indian system of gender relations. 2 standards also introduces North American gender ideologies. In this paper, I will look at how women and men, within the framework of the competition, negotiate gendered identities primarily through song lyrics, simultaneously challenging and reinforcing prevailing gender ideologies. A history of chutney-soca Research on the art forms reveals that the origins of both chutney and soca are contested, and that both resist easy definition (Ramnarine, 2001). The blending of the two is seen as a ‘natural’ development as both are celebratory in nature, create spaces for expressions of sexuality, especially women’s sexuality, and emphasize rhythms at the expense of melodies and lyrics. Yet chutney is said to have emerged from the religious context of Hindu wedding songs, and soca from the secular context of calypso. It is perhaps due to these diverse roots, or what are widely perceived to be diverse roots, that controversy about acceptable topics for compositions and judging have emerged during the Chutney Soca Monarch competition. Race, gender and sexuality are deeply implicated in the development and expression of both chutney and soca. Chutney was a genre of songs performed by Indian women in some of the sex-segregated rituals of the Hindu wedding ceremony, before it became a popular art form. When chutney made the transition to the public sphere and adjusted to include men as performers and audience members, it was still considered an exclusive space for Indians. The art form was labelled ‘Indian soca’ and chutney shows ‘Indian alternatives’ to Carnival. Women’s sexuality, whether celebrated in matikor or exhibited during public chutney shows, has always been a focus of the art form and has been interpreted through the male gaze. The themes, relying on domestic imagery, are preoccupied with sexual relations between men and women, and gender relations in general. Some observers believe that the transition to the public sphere gave the art form a new lease on life. Folk songs and melodies that would have died with the women who sung them were revived, remixed and re-presented, largely due to the promotional efforts of the Mohammed brothers, with Mastana Bahar, Indian Cultural Pageant and weekend chutney fetes (see below).3 Ras Shorty I, a black calypsonian who is considered to be the ‘father’ of soca, stated that the music came about as an effort to revive calypso, which he, along with other artistes, perceived to be a dying art form: 3 Not all Indians, especially orthodox Hindus, appreciated these efforts. The Mohammeds (brothers who were producers of Mastana Bahar) were “severely criticized for being unscrupulous about the desecration of Hindu culture. They have been accused of exploiting the chutney phenomenon and the Hindu individual for commercial gain” (Ribeiro 1992). 3 I was looking for new avenues to improve the music, and from Indrani4 I went to Soul Calypso Music...Soca comes from calypso. It’s the nucleus of calypso, the soul. I felt that everybody had tried with calypso. They called it soul calypso to link it with soul. I felt that to move on we had to change, get a new name. Calypso was dying a natural death. And to come up with a new name and a new form in calypsoul was what Sparrow was trying to do all along. Sparrow tried to add a lot of things to calypso and it didn’t work. I felt it needed something brand new to hit everybody like a thunderbolt. I knew what I was doing was incorporating soul with calypso, but I didn’t want to say soul calypso or calypsoul. So I came up with the name soca. I invented soca. And I never spelt it s-o-c-a. It was s-o-k-a-h to reflect the East Indian influence in the music (Boyke 1979). Having grown up in Lengua, an Indian village, he felt that a new national music should include Indian rhythms, but the predominantly African community of calypsonians was not open to this notion at the time (Popplewell 2004). When he introduced the sound of soca on his Love Man LP (1974), he was criticized for ‘playing Indian’. With his next album, Endless Vibrations (1975), soca began to catch on. By the 1980s, soca had become a major part of Carnival fêtes and black culture. Sexuality is also a focus of this art form, as critics and commentators have been obsessed with the image of the ‘wining woman’ in Carnival (Miller 1991). Gender relations as seen in the audience-performer relationship are similar to that of chutney, since the majority of popular artistes tend to be male, and the audience is perceived as being mostly female. Historical context of chutney-soca In the 1990s, Indians made a political breakthrough into the national consciousness with Basdeo Panday’s successful campaign for Prime Minister. Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel saw parallel cultural developments expressed in chutney and chutney soca as both “a concerted revival and assertion of Indian identity” and a “new spirit of creolization and syncreticism” (2000: 168). Panday commented on the fusion of chutney and soca in his opening speech at the first Chutney Soca Monarch (CSM), pointing out that the “cross-culturalization of music” was “a step in the direction of national unity” (Trinidad Express, February 1996). He specifically considered the creation of the competition as an “indication that people, despite our ethnic differences, are working together towards a common goal” (ibid). Before I delve further into the components of the Chutney Soca Monarch competition, and its precursor, Mastana Bahar, it would be useful to discuss functions of the competition in Trinidad and what these might signify for art forms, organizers and contestants. Competitions seem to form a central part of the major art forms in Trinidad and Tobago, such as calypso and steel pan, and now chutney. There are several reasons why this might be the case: they validated indigenous aspects of culture that were seen as inferior to European art forms; encouraged creativity and the transition from imitation to innovation; provided important venues for budding artistes to gain experience and exposure; and in the late 20th century, became profitable endeavours. In addition, in post- colonial Trinidad, competitions took on yet another meaning. The government’s decision to sponsor competitions like Panorama, and the National Calypso Monarch, and not 4 Georgia Popplewell described the song Indrani as a “chronicle of African/Indian romance which telegraphed the nation’s racial anxieties” (1996). 4 support others like Chutney Soca Monarch, indicates how the nation is being defined and imagined, as well as what cultural forms are considered central to the development and definition of a national identity (Anderson, 1983). For Indian art forms, small, local competitions came into being at the turn of the 20th century. As villages grew and people became more stable, individual singing took a special place and group singing declined in popularity. ‘Tent singing’ along with many homes now hired singers for entertainment and this propelled the building of a classical repertoire. In such a case, a couple of singers would vie against each other in striving to be the best throughout the sitting. Even from this early development, the idea of competition began to grow, which added to the popularity of classical singing (Maharaj 1994). This idea of competition has now developed to the point where almost every aspect of Indian culture, from food and music, to standards of beauty is subject to competition. In the post-independence period, Indian cultural competitions, particularly Mastana Bahar, also became a means to emphasize ethnic identity and sharpen the borders of the Indian community, which many Indians felt were being threatened by social developments at the time.